Manufacture of wrought-iron.



EDWARD L. FORD, OF YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO.

MANUFACT'URE OF WROUGHT-IBON.

Speeicaton of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 25, 191W.

Application led .Tul'y 23, 1914. Serial No. 852,627.

To all whom z't may concern Be it known that I, EDWARD L. FORD, acitizen of the United States, residing at Youngstown, in the county ofMahoning and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in the Manufacture of Wrought-Iron, of which the followingis a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, inV which-Figure 1 is a View, partly in sideelevation and partly in verticalsection, and largely diagrammatic, of one form of apparatus which may beemployed in the practice of my invention, and Fig. 2 is a plan viewshowing a portion of a press which may be employed in the squeezingoperation.

My invention has relation to improvements in the manufacture of wroughtiron; and is designed to provide an efficient and economical process inwhich the puddling operations may be carried out mechanically.

In accordance with my invention,the iron to be puddled is placed in asuitable furnace together with definitely predetermined quantities ofthe reagents (oxid of iron, etc.) necessary for the conversion of theiron, and in order that just suflicient of these reagents should beadded to do the work properly, and no more, the charged materials arepreferably carefully weighed before mixing. That is to say, I prefer toadd to the charge substantially the theoretical quantities ofslag-making and oxidizing material necessary to perfect the operation.In order that this may be done, it is necessary that the furnace shallbe provided with a lining which is practically neutral to both the pigiron and the added reagents at the temperature of puddling. To this endI provide the furnace with a liningof magnesia brick.

My improved method also includes the heating `of either the pig iron orthe reagents, or both, before theyare brought together. This may becarried out in either one of two ways. Either the pig iron or reagents,or both, may be preheated to a temperature sufficient to make them reactvigorously when brought together, but which would still require someextraneous heat to complete the oxidation; or, and this is preferred,one or both of the materials may be preheated to a temperature so highthat the oxidation may be completed without the use of outside heat. Insuch cases, the oxygen is largely. furnished by the oxids present, andnot from the air used to burn the fuel. This greatly increases the yieldsince the oxygen taken from the voxids reduces them to the metallicstate and increases the weight of wrought iron made. The oxidation fromthe pig iron of the charge o f itscontained phosphorus, silicon,manganese and carbon by oxids of iron gives up some heat; but thereduction of the oxids to metal takes about the same amount of heat.Furthermore, since the slag must be liquefied, some additional heat isrequired for this purpose.

.A The whole method is, therefore,'apparently a refrigerating one, whichmakes it necessary that the materials must be very hot before comingtogether if the reaction is to be completed without the use of outsideheat during the operation.

Oxids of iron containing the least oxygen will give up the most metalliciron and therefore are best suited for the purposes of my improvedinethod. I therefore prefer to employ a lower oxid (FeO), rather than ahigher oxid (Fe203), not withstanding the fact that the lower oxid reuires more heat per pound of iron reduced t an does the higher oxid. Theyield attained by using the lower oxid is suiiciently greater to makeits use decidedly economical.

A further feature of the invention relates to the construction of thefurnace employed with the means for keeping the fuel supply away fromthe furnace at will, so that the fuel may be shut off during theboiling, rising and dropping of the metal. This enables, when desired,the complete non-use of air for the combustion of the fuel during thispart of the operation, so that substantially all of the oxygen necessaryfor the removal of the metalloids shall come from the iron oxids in thereagents added.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown a suitable apparatus forcarrying out my invention. In these drawings the numeral 2 designates afurnace havin a lining 8 of magnesia brick, and capable 0% rotationabout a central longitudinal axis when balling the charge. The furnaceis also mounted to be swung vertically on the trunnions 4. Theseoperations may be efected in any suitable manner, as by the gearing 5and hydraulic cylinders 6.

7 designates the fuel supply pipe which extends loosely through one ofthe trunnions 4 and thence up to the charging end of the furnace andthrough the cover 8 which closes the charging'opening 9.

10 designates a suitable overhead traveling crane having a receptacle 11into which the balled iron may be discharged from the furnace.

12 designates a squeezing pit having the press heads 13 and 1-1, whichmay be operatedby the hydraulic cylinders 15 and 16, and by means ofWhich the slag may be squeezed from the ball.

17 designates a turning device arranged to be operated by a hydrauliccylinder 18.

This device provides means for turning theY ball intermediate thesqueezing operations.

In order to permit the fuel supply to be kept away from` the furnace 2at Will, the fuel supply pipe 7 is loosely mounted in the trunnion 4 soas to move in said trunnion independently of the movement of thefurnace; and is arranged to be so moved'by any suitable operatingdevice, such as the hydraulic cylinder 19. The rod 20 of the plunger ofthis cylinder is shown as having a roller support 21 for the pipe 7. Inthis manner the fuel supply pipe can be either kept in operativerelation to the furnace, or the furnace may be moved independentlythereof in tipping it.

The iron to be puddles is placed in the furnace Qeither in a coldcondition and preheated before the addition of the reagents, orthe-furnace may be charged with molten metal from a blast furnace orcupola. The predetermined amount of slag-making and oxidizin material,which is determined by previous y Weighing, isv added, this materialbeing also preheated if necessary, so that When the mixture is made thereactions Will take place either Without any extraneous heat, or With arelatively small addition of said heat, as above described.

As the molten iron and added oxidizing' and slag-making materials reactimmediate to cause a more or less violent boiling, the furnace should betipped up into the position shown in Fig; 1 to prevent boiling over.AAfter the metal quiets down, the furnace is brought to a horizontalposition and is rotated about its longitudinal axis, so that the metal,ifnot already come to nature, Will be uniformly acted upon by theAreducing agent. The metal soon comes to nature; and the continuedrotation `of the furnace about its longitudinal axis effects the ballingof the metal. The furnace is rotated downwardly on its trunnions todischarge the charge upon the receptacle 11 which conveys it to thesqueezing pit.

The advantages of my invention result from the. provision of a highlyeiiicient and /economical method which can be carried out rapidly; inwhich a minimum amount of reducing and slag-making materials isemployed, this being rendered possible by the use of predetermineddefinite quantities thereof, and by the use of the magnesia lining whichis neutral to both the pig iron and to such materials at the puddlingtemperature. Also from the use of the lower iron oxids which largelyincrease the yield. The preheating of one or both of the chargedmaterials is also a necessary feature in increasing the yield, togetherwith the ability to controlv the fuel supply at will.

I claim:

1. In the manufacture of Wrought iron, the method which consists inmixing oxidizing and `slag-making materials with pig iron insubstantially the theoretical quantities required to oxidize themetalloids, remove the carbon and make the slag, carrying out thereaction in a vessel having a lining which is neutral to the chargedmaterials at the puddling temperature, and excluding oxygen eithercombined or free, except that present in the combined oxids of thecharge, from the vessel during the reactions, substantially asdescribed.

2. In the manufacture of Wrought iron, the method which consists inmixing oxidizing and slag-making materials with pig iron insubstantially the theoretical quantities required to oxidize themetalloids, remove the carbon and make the slag, carrying out thereaction in a vessel having a lining Which is neutral to the charge, andpreheating aportion of the charged material before mixing to atemperature such that the reactions necessary to produce Wrought I ironwill occur without the use of external heat, substantially as described.4

3. In the manufacture of Wrought iron, the method which consists inmixing oxidizing and slag-making materials with pig iron insubstantially the theoretical quantities required to oxidize themetalloids, rcmove the carbon and make the slag, either the pig iron orthe oxidizing materials or both being preheated to such an extent thatthe reactions necessary to produce Wrought iron can take place Withoutthe use of external heat, carrying out the reaction in a vessel having,a lining which is neutral to the charge, and excluding oxygen fromsaidvessel either combined or free, except that present in the combinedoxids of the charge, substantially as described.

4;. In the manufacture of the improvement -Which consists in mixingoxidizing and slag-making materials with pig iron in substantially 'thetheoretical quantities required to oxidize the metalloids,'remove thecarbon and make the slag,-

carrymg out the reactions in a tipping puddling furnace, inclining thefurnace during the reaction period, and preventing the enwrought iron,

niedeee gen from the exterior of the vessel to the interior thereofwhile the metal is boiling, rising and dropping, the charged materialsbeing preheated to such an extent that the reactions necessary toproduce Wrought iron will occur Without the use of external heat,substantially as described.

ln testimony Whereof,lhave hereunto set my hand.

EDWARD L. FORD.

Witnesses:

Jnssin D. Diener, F D. WILKERSON..

